Business news live: National security probe ordered into £4bn takeover of defence firm Cobham
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The government has ordered an investigation into a £4bn takeover of British defence giant Cobham by a US private equity firm on the grounds of national security.
Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said the government wanted to "support private sector innovation whilst safeguarding the public interest" but had ordered the intervention after "careful consideration".
The competition watchdog will now scrutinise the national security implications of the deal between Cobham and Advent International and report the results before 29 October.
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Welcome to The Independent's live coverage of business and economics events around the world.
The government has stepped into a proposed £4bn takeover of British aerospace and defence firm Cobham. It comes after the Cobham's founding family raised concerns about the company's future under the ownership of Advent International.
Cobham supplies world-leading technology for the mid-air refuelling of planes.
At 9:30 today we have UK inflation data for August. The Consumer Prices Index is forecast to drop from 2.1 per cent to 1.9 per cent
Later this evening, the US Federal Reserve will announce it's latest interest rate decision. The Fed has faced a barrage of demands from Donald Trump to cut rates to support the US economy.
Water companies fined after sharp rise in complaints
A watchdog has warned four water companies to curb a sharp rise in customer complaints following service disruptions and billing problems.
The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) is demanding urgent improvement from Thames Water, Northumbrian Water, Essex and Suffolk Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy as well as quarterly reports highlighting what action they have taken and what more they plan to do to reduce complaints.
Thames, England's largest supplier, had a 24 per cent increase in written complaints over the last year, while 10% more customers had to phone to resolve an issue.
Press Association
Gambling adverts banned
The advertising watchdog has banned two gambling ads which it said could encourage harmful behaviour.
In a YouTube video advert, BetIndex described its football gambling product as “basically the football stock market, where you buy and sell shares in footballers with real money and you can win daily pay-outs which we call dividends".
One viewer complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, saying that the ad implied that the product was an investment opportunity and potentially a reliable source of income.
A second advert for Coral has been banned for encouraging repetitive participation in gambling.
The television promotion aired in June said: "Free £5 bet every Sunday. When you bet £25+ Monday to Saturday."
Should the government step in to scrutinise deals like the Cobham takeover more often?
Our chief business commentator James Moore thinks so.
"There are so many bad things happening in Britain right now that the overseas takeover of yet another big British business, one that actually makes things and sells them overseas, seems barely to have been noticed," he writes.
"Another reason is perhaps that Cobham, an aerospace and defence business that has agreed to a £4bn bid from American buyout firm Advent International, is hardly a household name.
"It is perhaps best known as a pioneer of air to air refuelling tech, but it also supplies electronic and radar equipment to the civilian aerospace as well as the defence industry. Its kit can be found in just about every Airbus jet, for example."
Record numbers seek debt help
Debt charity StepChange says a record number of people - some 331,337 - made contact to seek help in the first half of the year.
Of all those who contacted the charity, 190,484 went on to receive full debt advice.
Phil Andrew, chief executive of StepChange Debt Charity, said: “These statistics provide a sobering assessment of the scale of problem debt in this country.
“Across the board, we are seeing red flags, including worrying proportions of new clients falling into debt due to reduced income, illness or because they rely on credit to pay for day-to-day living expenses.
“Clearly more and more households are struggling to hang on and are ill-equipped to deal with any economic shocks the future may hold.
Full story:
Not enough robots, say MPs
“The problem for the UK labour market and our economy is not that we have too many robots in the workplace, but that we have too few,” say MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.
Their report published today after months of research says the UK lags behind G7 competitors in adopting robots.
Business and Economics Editor, Olesya Dmitracova:
Breaking: Inflation drops to 1.7 per cent in August - it's lowest since December 2016
That's below economists expectations of 1.9 per cent and well within the Bank of England's target of 2 per cent.
Ryanair and BA strikes latest
In what is turning into an autumn of discontent for the travel industry, passengers are once again caught in the middle of another bitter dispute between an airline and its pilots, writes Travel Correspondent Simon Calder.
British Airways is expected to cancel nearly 1,000 flights because of a strike by members of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) on 27 September.
Before that, Balpa members employed by Ryanair in the UK are about to begin another seven days of strikes.
Find out the latest on whether your flight might be affected here:
Food and drink prices rise
The ONS explains:
Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose by more between July and August 2019 than between the same two months of 2018.
The effects were relatively small from all categories within this heading, with the largest upward ones coming from bread and cereals (from products such as dried potted snacks, breakfast cereal and packs of individual cakes), and meat (principally cooked ham).
Housing market slows down
Average house prices in the UK increased by 0.7% in the year to July 2019, down from 1.4 per cent in June 2019, the ONS has reported.
John Goodall, chief executive of buy-to-let specialist Landbay, said:
In the context of the political and economic uncertainty facing the UK, this dip in house price growth comes as no surprise. Many buyers are reluctant to bid and potential sellers are holding out ahead of the Prime Minister’s 31 October Brexit deadline.
Of the transactions that are going ahead, an increasing proportion of sellers are having to accept offers below their asking price - good news for buyers!
However, the threat of a general election continues to loom, causing further economic and political uncertainty. Given some of the more radical housing policies of a potential Corbyn government, it would be understandable if investors in the UK’s private rental sector took on a ‘wait-and-see’ approach until the political turmoil plateaus.
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